


Polaris

by Ilyasviel



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Declarations Of Love, F/M, Fluff, Post Sloane, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 23:48:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11679621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilyasviel/pseuds/Ilyasviel
Summary: I need to do it >_<  I love Reyes so much it hurts! But as always, I sweetened him, can't fight it!I'm thinking of add a second chapter with some smut, let me know what you think ^^As always, no beta reading, all the errors are mine to bear :P English isn't my first language. If you find any typo and want to tell me about it, I will correct it right away!Thanks for reading and spread the Reyes love! <3





	Polaris

**Author's Note:**

> I need to do it >_< I love Reyes so much it hurts! But as always, I sweetened him, can't fight it! 
> 
> I'm thinking of add a second chapter with some smut, let me know what you think ^^
> 
> As always, no beta reading, all the errors are mine to bear :P English isn't my first language. If you find any typo and want to tell me about it, I will correct it right away!
> 
> Thanks for reading and spread the Reyes love! <3

Storm clouds dotted the sky above Kadara Port when the Tempest reaches it. They have been running around the cluster searching for stealing probes. The team need a bit of R&R, and Kadar is the closest area with a bar. Hope is not very happy about the situation, but she doesn't have the heart to make her team endure another week on the ship just for fear of seeing Reyes again. Fucking Reyes Vidal. 

 

Their last meeting has been a tense one, just after the incident in the caves where she discovered that he was, in fact, the Charlatan. She broke with him in his dark corner on the Tartarus, and she had felt broken and empty since then. She is lucky, the system is still a mess, and she had her hands full of work and important things to do, but the nights… The nights are filled with what ifs and doubts. 

 

The group is already gathered on the cargo bay. Even Gil had decided to join them for a while, only Suvi and Kalo will remain on the ship. Vetra made Hope promise to give it a try and get some fun with them, promising her to maintain Liam and Jaal away from her. 

 

When she joins them beside the Nomad, Cora is already making faces. She never liked the Port, and after Reyes’ incident, she even hates it more. Hope is still zipping up her jacket when Drack hit her shoulder, making her stutter. “Come on, kid. Try to have some fun. I can share some of my private stashes with you if you need it.”

 

Peebee laughs at her other side, while Cora just crosses her arms, facing Drack. “You are not going to poison the Pathfinder, old man. Maintain the ryncol on your glass.”

 

Vetra leaves her office then, raising her hands. “Enough, you too. Tonight she isn't the Pathfinder, and we are not her team. We are a group of friends with a high need for fun. If she wants to drink ryncol until she can't walk, let her be.”

 

Hope smiles to her. The turian has turned soon enough to her best friend. Her mind is even quicker than hers, and she had a heart greater than the Nexus. When Vetra extends a hand, Hope takes it and let her guide the team to the Kralla’s Song, where Umi has been saving the table beside the windows for them. Someone has sent a couple of bottles of whiskey for them, and even when they knew who has been, no one said a word about it. An hour later, they stand to order more alcohol, having finished with the whiskey, the ryncol and the turian wine. Sara was at the bar with Vetra when a group of humans nears them. “You, Nexus scum. You will pay for Sloane’s death!” Umi shrugs, muttering a _‘Try not to break my bar, please’,_ before moving away from them.

 

With a sigh, Hope turns to face them, the alcohol making her feel braggy. “I only count eight of you. Do you want to call some friends?”

 

The first one launches himself against her with a _‘Nexus bitch’_ in his mouth. Hope dodges him easily, using his energy to crush his face against the counter. The group on the table are cheering and clapping. One of them takes off a knife from his boot, making her laugh. The concealed Asari sword she always wears when walking around Kadara is more than twice longer than his knife, and when she takes it off, she gives him a lopsided grin. “Mine is bigger, you moron.”

 

After that, the fight ends quickly. Two of them charged against Vetra, how breaks the nose of the first and dislodges booth arms of the second. Hope activates her powers, launching a vortex over the far end of the group, raising them from the ground and leaving them floating on air. Charging against the one with the knife, she hits his chest with booth fist, hard enough to feel the breaking of bones under her knuckles. Disappearing and reappearing behind the one that remains on his feet, she put her sword on his neck. “Your tyrant master has gone. You need to learn who gives the order now.” 

 

Umi has called for some help, and as soon as the knees of the men in front of her touch the floor, the door opens, and Keema appears, followed by a group of Angaran and Humans. “Good night, Pathfinder. I see that you had your own Welcome party. Mind if I join?”

 

“Hello, Keema. Nice to see you. Suit yourself. We have a lot of idiots to play with, choose the one you like more, I'm not picky.”

 

The group is quickly shackled and take away from the bar, leaving the area almost untouched. The smear of blood on the counter the only signal of their struggle after they repositioned the few chairs that her attack had moved. Umi serves her another shot of whiskey with a soft smile. “Thanks for doing it without breaking anything this time, Ryder.”

 

Hope drinks it in a long gulp, the heat of it burning her insides. “I'm still paying for the last one, don't want to add more debts to my tab.”

 

Drack’s voice reaches her, “Thehehehehehe, that was a good fight, kid.”

 

Keema moves near the table, exchange pleasantries with them before sitting beside Jaal, intent clear on her body language. Vetra turns to face her, mandibles flapping while she purrs softly. “The night is getting better and better, Hope!”

 

She nods, ordering the alcohol they wanted to order before the brawl. She lets Vetra move the bottles to the table while she takes another shot with Umi. The barmaid moves closer to her, whispering just for her. “You haven't seen Reyes yet, right?” Her answer is a shake of her head before she downs the glass. “Well, I know I'm talking out of place, but Reyes has been good to me since we reached this place, and your breakup-- let's say he is not himself since then.”

 

“He buried his own grave when he lied to me.”

 

Umi refills her glass, crossing her arms in front of her after putting the bottle down. “Everyone has a secret, Hope. I'm sure you have one too, like every single soul in this cluster.”

 

She drowns the shot in a single gulp. “Maybe, but it didn't hurt less for knowing it, Umi.” When Vetra returns beside her, she feels the mood has changed and is less than surprised when Hope says the next words. “I'm going back to the Tempest after a short walk. Have fun here.”

 

Before Cora can open her mouth, Vetra turned to the table. “Let her be, Harper. She can take care of herself out there.” The other woman just grunts to her before returning her attention to nurse her glass. Hope squeezes Vetra's hand softly before waving to them. She will send Umi the credits they spend tomorrow morning.

 

Climbing the stairs to the door, she opens it with her omni before stepping outside, the cold air of the night making goose bumps appears on her skin. She walks to the railway near the stairs, leaning on them and enjoying the cold breeze while she enjoys the view. The moon glows brightly in Kadara, and its light shines on the lakes’ surfaces. Thanks to its light, Hope can see someone sitting on one of the platforms of the Port. She didn’t need to come close to say who it was. Reyes is drinking alone, resting his back in a crate with a leg hanging over the edge. She feels as if someone was grasping her heart and squeezing it. It's been almost two months since they moved in opposite directions after the cave incident. They had exchanged a couple of cold emails, talking about the Port and the outpost, but nothing more. She knows it was her fault. He tried to contact her via vidcomm for days, and she had ignored his calls, nursing her heart alone in her quarters and trying to glue it back together. Sadly for her, it didn’t work. She feels as heartbroken and hollow as the day she left the Tartarus after breaking with him. What to do? Her masochist side wants to go there and say _‘hi’_ , but her coward part didn’t want to give him the chance to talk her back to his side. She is looking in his general direction, worrying a nail between her teeth. Suddenly, a movement on her periphery catches her eyes, and she finds him watching her and waving a hand. Hope blushes, returning the gesture timidly before running from him with the tail between legs. With a quick pace, she almost runs to the door that leads to the docks, wanting nothing more than to hide inside the Tempest. When the door opens, and she moves closer to the ship access, a gasp leaves her when she finds Reyes waiting for her near the door. “Hello, Reyes. Do you want anything?” Her tone is cold and measured, even when she is fighting the worse inner war of her life on the inside.

 

He sighs before moving closer to her. “I want a lot of things, Hope. But I can't have them. I came to give you a present, and then I will leave you alone because is obvious that you don't want company, at least mine.”

 

Hope has to lower her gaze, his voice is doing something with her heart, and she didn't want for him to see it. “I'm just tired, Reyes.”

 

Moving a hand, he captures hers and moves it until it rested between them. Searching inside of his pocket, he picks off a little pendant depicting the Ursa Minor. A little jewel has been added to it to be the Polaris star, hanging from the rest with a short chain. Putting it in her hand, he closes her fingers around it, moving his free hand to cup her face. “You always will be my Polar Star, my north in this crazy galaxy.” He takes a step back, letting his hand fall to his side. “Rest well.” He walks away from her, turning just before the door closes behind him. “Goodbye, Hope.”

 

Hope is fighting back the tears when Suvi opens the door and walks to her, hugging her without saying a word. The tears begin to flow as soon as she wraps her arms around Suvi. The young scientist just holds her, hands caressing her hair and back. When Hope starts to recover her breath, Suvi moves to arm's distance from her, hands still grasping her shoulders. “I called Vetra as soon as I saw him here. She will be here ve--” just then the doors behind them open again and soon another set of arms wraps around her.

 

Hope leans against her best friend, head resting on her shoulder. “Sorry for disturbing your free night.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Is not like I wasn't starting to get bored of hearing Drack tell his war stories, again.” Suvi is still with them, and the young scientist tilts her head signalling the door before moving inside. Vetra pushes Hope until she starts to move, bringing her inside until they reach her quarters. She walks directly to the bed, falling into it face first, hands still closed in fists. Vetra locks the door behind her, moving to the SAM node on the desk. “SAM, can you show me the recording of the last interaction between Reyes and the Pathfinder?”

 

The AI didn't ask Hope’s permission for this, showing Vetra a first person point of view of her moments since she left Kralla’s Song. “I have some readings of her and Mister Vidal, too.”

 

“No need, thank you, SAM.” Vetra returns to the bed, sitting on it and forcing Hope to lay on her back. “Let me see it.”

 

Hope opens her fingers, hand trembling when she shows the jewel to Vetra. The turian picks it up, the pendant hanging from the chain. The silhouette of the Ursa minus done in some dark metal, shining under the ambient light. A short chain at the end of it leads to a white jewel. The design is beautiful, almost as its meaning. Vetra recovers Hope’s hand and pushes her up until they are sitting one in front of the other. She hangs the pendant just in front of her face. “After this, do you still doubt him?”

 

Hope raises a hand, taking the little jewel between her fingers. “I doubt myself, Vetra. I don’t believe I can survive another lie. I’m still licking my wounds from the last one.”

 

Vetra gives Hope the pendant back and cups her face in her hands, talons scratching her scalp softly. “What do you think he has been doing the past weeks? Keema says that he only leaves his office at nights and has turned himself into a workaholic.”

 

“Ruling a planet can be stressful.” 

 

She tries to sound angry while moving away from Vetra’s grasp, but she has always been of the resilient type, and follows her movement, still cupping her face and making her look directly into her eyes. “Can you stop being the Pathfinder for a moment, Hope? We are fighting to give a place to live and prosper to all the people on the Nexus. Can you try to save a little corner of it for yourself?” Vetra let her face go, leaning her hands on her shoulders. “What did your mother told you before she died?”

 

“To fall in love. To find someone who can look at me like Dad looked to her.”

 

Vetra raises her head with a finger on her chin. “And that you did, my friend. Now stop being the stubborn Pathfinder and let’s Hope to go and be happy with the man she loves.” 

 

“But--”

 

Raising her from the bed, Vetra picks her in her arms, moving to the door. “No but here, Hope. You will have a chat with Reyes tonight. I will take you to his door myself if I have to.” When Vetra senses a pat on her back, she puts her down but remains stubbornly positioned in front of her. “Spirits! You have been in love with him almost from the first moment you set your eyes on him! You can throw yourself against an Architect without batting an eyelid, but you are afraid to talk with a man who is clearly in love with you?”

 

Hope is still grasping the pendant in her hand, and she lowers her gaze to look at it for a second. “And what can I say to him, Vetra? I left him. I ignored him for weeks, only answering his official calls, avoiding any direct contact--”

 

With a push on her shoulder, Vetra starts to move her again to the door. “And even after all this, he came to see you and give you a present with more meaning that you want to believe.”

 

“Everyone hates him. I will have a hard time on the Tempest if I do what you ask for.”

 

Still pushing her outside the room, Vetra just laughs. “That’s not true at the very least, Hope. Maybe Cora hates him, but she hates everyone who plays outside of her rulebooks. And Liam, well, he is just jealous, but he likes how Reyes deals with the problems. Gil wants to bang him, and Peebee too. Lexi loved the smile he put on your face before the cave. Suvi likes him too. He sent her a bag of Angaran tea as soon as you talked with him about her addiction. Kalo is Kalo and didn’t count. Drack respects him, and that’s a big thing for the old man. And for myself, I knew him from before the long journey. I can’t hate him for doing what was necessary.” Hope didn’t look very convinced by her words. “I will deal with Cora and Liam, don’t worry about that. Remember that I control the kitchen supplies. No beer and no chocolate for them if they didn’t let you be on this.”

 

Hope has to laugh at her words. “You are a cruel woman, my friend. But even if I can force myself to go and talk to him, I don’t know where to find him.”

 

SAM joins the conversation just then. “I have used the sensors of the Tempest to find him, Ryder. He is in an apartment near here. Sending the directions to your omnitool.”

 

Hope just sighs, taking another look at her hand before changing her focus to the door. “Do you really think he will accept me again?”

 

Vetra’s mandibles trembled with a little purr, “Spirits, you can’t be that blind, right? SAM, project the moment when he talks to her after giving her the jewel. No need for sound.” A clear image of Reyes appears on the big screen near the door. He is looking at her with something she can’t identify, but his grin turns to a sad one when he moves away from her. “See? Why can’t you see it? I’m not even human and can recognise the feeling.” 

 

With a last look to the screen, Hope faces the door with a sigh. “Fine. I’ll go and talk with him. Wish me luck.”

 

“Girl, you didn’t need luck for that. Go and pathfind the way to his heart!”

 

Hope giggles to her, “You need to stop talking about me with Sid. Thanks, Vetra. For all.”

 

Vetra opens the door and walks with her to the cargo bay. “You are more than welcome, my friend. See you in the morning.”

 

The door closed behind her, leaving her in the darkness of the docks. Taking a deep breath, she opens the screen of her omnitool. SAM directions show clearly on it. _‘I don’t have anything to lose…’_ After another breath, she starts to go down the ramp, moving to the docks’ door. The apartment is near the Headquarters, and she makes a quick job of the distance, spending only a couple of minutes to reach the door. Once in front of it, her heart starts to hammer in her chest like crazy. _‘I can do it. Whatever happens, at least I will have some kind of closure.’_ Raising her free hand, she knocks at the door and starts to worry her lower lip when the seconds move away, and no answer came from the inside. She knocks again, and after a minute without a reply, she lets go a defeated sigh before turning to go. 

 

Hope is a couple of steps away when the door opens, a shirtless Reyes on the doorframe with a surprised frown on his face. “You came.” She is munching her nails with a nervousness he never saw on her. “Please, come inside. I suppose you want to talk.”

 

With a nod, she follows him inside, locking the door behind her. The apartment is not a big one. It has a little kitchenette with a tiny table for two, a big bed and a door at the wall that must be the bathroom. He sits on the bed, waiting for her to choose a place. She decides to remain standing in front of him. A minute or two passed with the room filled with silence, and their gazes fixed on one another. Taking a deep breath while the words of her mother resound on her brain, she raises her hand and let the pendant fall, chain fixed between her fingers. “Do you mean it?”

 

“I do.”

 

She closes her eyes and lowers the hand. “Why now?”

 

Hope can hear him sighing and shifting on the bed. “Because after falling for you through the void, through stars and dark space, I hit the ground and finally accepted that I’m in love with you.” He sees her catching her breath while he continues. “I know that I destroyed what we have, but wanted to let you know that you were, are, and will be, someone very dear to me. You make me want to be a better man, and to be worthy of you, I decided to use your light to navigate in my own darkness.”

 

A shackling sob leaves her, and a second after he ends talking, Reyes finds himself pinned against the bed by a crying Hope. His arms move immediately to her back, hugging her like he wanted to do for the long weeks they stayed apart. After almost ten minutes of crying, Hope finally calm herself enough to talk to him, still laying on his chest. “Walking away from you has been one of the hardest things I ever did. It felt like someone was pulling from my heart with every step. But I tried to steel myself, thinking about how you lied to me about who you were all this time--”

 

Reyes cuts her words with a finger on her lips. “I never lied about who I was with you, who I wanted to be. In fact, I never was more _‘me’_ than with you. I had hide things, of course I did it, and how sorry I am for doing it. But I wanted you to like me, just Reyes, dreamed of you loving me for who I am.”

 

Hope sits back on her heels, cleaning her tears-stained cheeks with her scarf. “Here.” She moves the pendant in front of his face. “Is not a formal present if you didn’t put it around my neck.”

 

Taking the jewel on his hands, Reyes sits beside her, while she gives him her back to help him. Hope has taken off her scarf, opening the zip of the jacket a bit. She can feel the pendant touching her skin and the soft caress of his fingers when he closes the chain around her neck. Moving a hand to touch the little jewel, she closes her eyes. “I spent the past weeks trying to prepare myself for when I crash against the reality of having lost you, knowing that it was entirely my fault. You opened your heart to me in that cave, and my answer was a bitter one, unleashing against you all the venom I had received from Sloane. You call me your light, but you are my haven. The lighthouse I need to survive in the vastness of the space. I’ve been running away from you, thinking that I destroyed the only chance I will get to be happy on this cluster.”

 

Reyes wraps his arms around her, kissing her temple lovingly. “I had enough time away from you to think about what I want, what I crave, what I need. And the only answer is you.”

 

Turning in his arms, Hope closes the distance to his mouth, caressing his lips softly with hers. “I love you, Reyes Vidal.”

 

Reyes’ hand moves to her nape, fingers interlacing with her hair. “Te quiero, Hope Ryder.” And he puts his heart and soul in their first true kiss, one intertwined with feelings and maybe some regrets, but with a sweet aftertaste of dreams and plans.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Translation: Te quiero --> I love you (in Spain we use this expresión instead of Te amo ^^)


End file.
